Last week I posed a couple questions to you guys (one about blog content, one about travel) and I really enjoyed chatting with so many of you. Sometimes it’s easy to forget in my often solitary work life that I actually have a huge community of women who love many of the same things I do, and while there’s plenty of back-and-forth on social media, I really valued the chance to talk with some of you in greater detail than an Instagram DM lends itself to. So I hope you won’t mind if I continue to pose questions I’m curious about in an effort to foster a greater sense of community on my actual blog. It was really cool to see some of you writing back and forth about bucket list trips, etc., and I’m excited to connect with more of you in that way!

Today’s question is an admittedly self-serving one as I’m trying to come up with seven more goals for my next 101 in 1001 list. If you’re unfamiliar, I keep a list of 101 things I want to accomplish in 1,001 days (2.75 years) and I’m finally almost ready to share my third list with you. So today I’d love to hear about anything you hope to accomplish in the next 2.75 years of your life, whether it’s reading a certain number of books, going on a certain number of first dates, traveling to a particular country, hosting your first Thanksgiving, or starting a family. Obviously my third list will be pretty different from the first list I wrote (halfway through my senior year at Bucknell!), so I encourage you to check out my first list and my second list if you’re new to the concept.

And since I wouldn’t ask without answering myself, here are a few things on my list for the next 2.75 years…

Frame and hang some of our wedding photos

Reread the Harry Potter series with Will (something I did solo for my first list!)

I’m excited to hear what goals you’re working toward in the hopes that your comments will inspire the final seven goals on my new list. I’m definitely stoked about the first 94 on my list and can’t wait to soak up a little inspiration so I can finally press publish and get to tackling all 101 of them!

Just got LASIK last month – worth every single penny! It is life changing having perfect vision- highly recommend. Only part that wasn’t great was having to wear glasses for 3 weeks before the surgery but a small price to pay for never having to wear them again!

My biggest goal for the next three years is to apply to grad school! I’m still undecided about what exactly I want to pursue (so that could go at the beginning of the list too…) but it’s something I’m incredibly motivated to accomplish and something I would be so so proud of myself for. I’m living abroad at the moment so I also have a pretty long travel list too! I found your blog a few years ago and have been meaning to make a 101 in 1001 list ever since, honestly it’s a little intimidating because you have to accept the risk of failure if you don’t achieve everything on the list. But being okay with failing sometimes is also something important to accomplish so I guess it all works out in the end! Thanks for working to create a positive space for women on the internet, it is so needed and appreciated especially right now! 🙂

Caroline, thank you so much for this note! I know what you mean — it’s definitely intimidating to put your goals on paper (or out on the internet for the world to see!) and sometimes I beat myself up for only accomplishing 70-80% of each list. But then I remember I might have accomplished 0% if I’d just never started! Best of luck finding what you want to pursue and getting into the right grad school for you — what an exciting few years ahead!

This is AMAZING!! I just found your blog (I don’t know how I haven’t found it earlier?!?) and we already are best friends in my head ha! It looks like we have a similar style and my husband and I are still in that newlywed stage as well! As for the list… I have always had a short one in my head but I LOVE the idea of getting even more specific with it. If it is alright with you I’d love to publish my own and link back to yours as credit for sparking the conversation and idea! I think my readers would adore you as well! Curious, how did you happen to choose the number of items and days?

Welcome!!! I’m so glad you found me 🙂 I would LOVE for you to post a list of your own — I actually link everyone who starts one at the bottom of my list so there are dozens more lists you can check out there for extra inspiration! My friend Kelly told me about the Day Zero Project in college and that’s where the whole thing started (can’t believe it’s been 6+ years now!). Please tweet me the link to your list once it’s live so I can check it out and link up! Good luck! 🙂

I can tell you that the item I most regret NOT completing from my first list 5 years ago was conducting an oral history interview from my grandmother, who was my last living grandparent. I wanted to hear about her childhood, about what life was like during WWII, and what my dad was like as a kid. I always put it on the back burner, and then she passed away before I got the chance to start the project. I definitely plan on doing it with both of my parents in the next year or so, so I don’t feel like I’ve missed my chance with them.

Global Entry is a great goal– it was one of mine this year, and when I finally decided to fill out the application, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it is! The hardest part was remembering all of my addresses for the past few years and then finding an appointment window– otherwise, no harder than placing an order online and entering your shipping information!

I bet you could do it in less than 30 minutes– and then it could be a new blog post! Just a thought 🙂

I’m such a lazy poster. I had to get to a computer to actually reply. I’m a long time follower and I remember your very first list. I made my own and quietly completed every single thing on it without every posting about half of them. On my first list was to get my masters, a second dog, marry my husband, leave the country and buy a house. We did everything on our list and more. This list is so helpful and motivating. I found myself pushing hard to do things that would even occur to me that I could finish and crossing off things that I pushed myself to do and realized I didn’t want to do. This little list saved me from going to medical school so thank you for the beautiful little community you’re fostering here.

Victoria, you just completely made my day! I’m so impressed that you crossed off all 101 things — #goals for me for sure! It sounds like you’ve had a very accomplished past three years and I’m so happy to be a tiny part of all your unbelievable progress!

I’ve just started my own list, inspired by yours! Amongst my goals are…

– restore my grandmother’s bakeware
– get my masters degree in law
– grow and maintain a herb garden
– go on a multi-day hike
– remove myself from facebook (keep it for social invites and news, but have all my photos/old statuses printed in a book and then delete all my personal information — my work friends shouldn’t have access to pics from my high school dance recital 10 years ago!)

Girl, you are a dynamo! Law school and a MULTI-day hike?! Wow. And I so hear you on the Facebook stuff. After all my high school friends applied to college and started using their middle names instead of last names (like Mackenzie Elizabeth instead of Mackenzie Horan — I guess so admissions couldn’t find their profiles?) and then as people have gotten married and changed their names again, I feel like I don’t know 75% of the people popping up in my feed. I’d have to go on a major unfriending spree to want to use the platform again.

Lasik is on my list too!! I think I want to get it done in the spring. The amount of time I waste messing around with my contacts in the morning is RIDICULOUS.

Also, I just did my Global Entry interview last week! It’s a tedious process but I’m so excited to have pre-check. I don’t even have any international travel planned but I thought I’d at least be ready to go should the opportunity present itself 🙂

get TSA precheck (lazy)
improve my golf game and play a full 18
read 2 books a month – so bad recently
figure out how to save money in this city (lolllllllllll)
hopefully find a nice man one of these days!

I got LASIK and I LOVE it!! I definitely recommend it. My mom and I did the math and the price of LASIK is much less than the cost of contacts for the rest of your life! I also second Global Entry and precheck – game changer. My husband hasn’t finished the Harry Potter series so if I wrote a 101 in 1001 list, getting him to finish it (with me) would definitely be on there. I am making a career change right now so my answer to your one question is to get into medical school but that’s not very helpful for your list 🙂 Can’t wait to read it!

Happy to hear a rave review for Lasik! Were you scared at all during the procedure?! I’m usually not a baby about medical stuff but for some reason the thought of someone touching my eye freaks me out haha. And good for you for applying to medical school — that’s incredible! Best of luck!!!

I got PRK (same end results as LASIK, just a slight difference in the procedure of what they do to the eye pre-laser and a longer recovery) earlier this year, and it was one of th best decisions I’ve ever made! I love it too, and it’s so incredible to not need glasses or contacts anymore! My eyesight was really bad before, and I wore a -7.5 and a -6 in contacts. I definitely recommend you go through with it.

And I’m usually a baby about it too! I was really nervous at first once I decided to do it, and talking with the surgeon in the consult and asking a lot of questions really helped. I was also really nervous on the drive to the surgery, but they give you anxiety medication once you get there and the surgeon and nurses were really reassuring too. For me the worst part of the actual surgery was them rinsing out my eye with cold liquid before they used the laser. All of the consults really just felt like an extended version of an eye exam, and I didn’t feel like they were touching my eye too much or that it was overly uncomfortable. If for some reason you do decide to go through with it and happen to do it in Austin, I can’t recommend Dr. Dell enough! Good luck making your decision- I felt like finding a doctor I was really happy with was the hardest part, and once I felt like I found a great place I was much less nervous about everything.

I want to get into grad school in the next three years! And then on top of that (probably more importantly)… figure out what I want to go to grad school for! My 101 in 1001 list ends in July 2019 so I still have some time to cross more things off! At the time I wrote it though I didn’t even want to go to graduate school. Funny how those things happen!

I’m a high school junior, so my list would look a lot different, but my goal would to be confident and happy at the college I end up at! I love your list so far! Oh and congratulations on being a newlywed!

That’s a great goal! And I would definitely check out my first list if you’re interested in writing your own as I wrote it during my senior year of college. Best of luck to you during this exciting time! 🙂

Love! I made one a while back, then found out I was pregnant and pretty much scrapped the whole thing. Would love to figure out a new one. Always enjoy reading yours. A big one for me is “finishing” our house, but I’ll have to break it down into much smaller pieces so I can actually figure out what that looks like.

It’s so hard when life changes so drastically in the middle of your list! Obviously we don’t have kids yet but I remember when we moved to Dallas (and then when we moved back to CT) that none of my original goals were really applicable anymore. I hope you’ll be able to craft a new one!

Ah I’ve always wanted to write one of these lists (longtime reader of yours!) but have never gotten around to it. Now the wheels are turnign though so this might just be the push I need! I want to visit a new continent, get at least two promotions at work and treat my parents to dinner (they still always pay, haha!).

And speaking as someone with Global Entry, it is truly life-changing. You can never go back!

I can’t wait to see your third installment! I’m 2/3 of the way through my first list. Other than about 4 months of aimless wandering, I’ve been fairly steady at knocking things off the list. A few things I still have to accomplish from my list: prepare an emergency kit for the house, foster a litter of puppies, make somebody a mixtape, complete a photo-a-day challenge for a month (and many more!)

I love this post! I’m partway through my third 101 in 1001 list (ends March 2019) and I try to really focus on crossing those items off my list in the next few years! It looks like we have some of the same goals (pre-check and Global Entry and more reading!). I might have to put buying a home on my next list! Living in Boston, that seems so unattainable now, but in the 2019-2022 window (weird to write that haha), it might be more possible! Can’t wait to see what your new list has on it!